I’m Sorry VICTOR BUONO, I Was Wrong About You

My love of the Batman TV show is deep and abiding, just as it was when I was a child.

Of course, it’s a different kind of love. As a kid, the show was an immersive experience, a source of adventure and whiz-bang action. It’s still those things, but now it’s all tinged with a certain nostalgia, knowingness — and appreciation for campy kitsch.

As I’ve rewatched the show over the last several years, and written extensively about it, I’m repeatedly struck by how my tastes have changed since I watched it on Channel 11 after school in the 1970s.

There are things I loved then and roll my eyes at now, and things I could barely tolerate then that I have come to realize were some of the greatest parts of the show.

One of the best examples? Victor Buono’s King Tut.

When I was a boy, I watched his episodes with a bit of a set jaw, annoyed by his high-pitched declarations and broad displays of criminal haplessness. It was still Batman, so I watched, but it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. Bring me more Riddler, I’d think. Enough with this guy.

Oh, how wrong I was.

For starters, those bombastic pronouncements that put my teeth on edge when I was, oh, 8 years old, now make me laugh out loud — especially when set against his W.C. Fields-like sarcastic asides. Buono didn’t just walk through scenes; he thundered through them.

Then there are the outfits — all bright reds, golds, blues and purples — a cacophony of faux Egyptian grooviness heaped on a larger-than-life frame. Whether he’s calling for Robin to be boiled in oil or bursting triumphantly into the Batcave, Buono’s robust physicality commands your attention: King Tut will not be ignored.

Oh, and let’s not forget that he set the stage for a Batusi even better than the one in the show’s premiere:

It’s remarkable to me that Buono was only 28 when he joined the show. He looked — and behaved — like a much older performer. It’s tragic that he only lived to 43. He was born Feb. 3, 1938 — he would have been 80. (For Lee Meriwether’s wistful recollections of working with him in Season 2, click here.)

I’m often reminded of all that when I watch the show now, but at the same time, I can’t help but get swept up in the boisterousness of his tour de force performance, a masterpiece of chaotic control.

Because, in the end, Victor Buono’s magnificently magnetic portrayal was one of the absolute highlights of Batman.

Here, here! I started watching BATMAN back in the 60s, and King Tut was ALWAYS my favorite non-comics villain. He was insane, he had a fantastic gimmick/theme, and, more than anyone else the Dynamic Duo fought, he actually had an overarching vision. He wasn’t about robbing banks or jewelry stores. He saw himself as a conqueror with a kingdom to reclaim! If Buono was grandiose, well, the character demanded it! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I feel the need to rewatch one of his episodes coming on….